One bad quarter is all it took for the Russellville Lady Cyclones to dig themselves a hole they couldn't get out of on Tuesday night in a 59-49 loss to Fort Smith Southside.

After a tie in the first quarter, the Lady Cyclones could muster only two points in the second quarter. Southside took advantage of the situation, and Russellville was never able to catch back up.

"We learned a valuable lesson tonight,'' Russellville coach Matt Kordsmeier said. "When they switched to that zone defense in the second quarter, we didn't attack it, we kept trying to shoot the three.

"In the second half we attacked the zone and were able to cut the lead down from 16 to six.''

Kordsmeier was proud that his team didn't quit when it got by 16 in the third quarter.

"This team has a lot of heart and guts,'' the coach said. "I'm very proud of the effort that the girls gave, especially Randi (Rudder), Hailey (Wilbanks) and Whitney (Anderson).''

Anderson led Russellville (7-8, 0-2) with 16 points, followed by Rudder with 13.

Southside senior guard Miranda Moreton got things started off for the Lady Rebels with back-to-back treys in the first minute to give her team a 6-0 lead out of the gate.

Russellville would answer though with three straight buckets of their own, two by Whitney Anderson that tied the game with 4:49 to go in the opening quarter.

A three by Katy Schrodt though would give the Lady Rebels the lead back and they would hold on to the lead until Russellville guard Amanda Van Es canned a three-pointer to tie the game at 13-all with 15 seconds left.

Things started to fall apart for the Lady Cyclones in the second quarter. They were plagued by turnovers and when they weren't turning it over, they were missing shots and not getting very many rebounds.

Fort Smith Southside took advantage on the other end of the court. Utilizing their post players and backdoor cuts, the Lady Rebels went on a 13-0 run that lasted most of the second quarter until Russellville finally got its first points of the quarter on a basket by Randi Rudder with one minute to go in the half as the Lady Rebels took a 26-15 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Southside scored the first five points of the quarter, but the Lady Cyclones fought back, going on a 14-5 run in the last five minutes to close within 35-27 at the end of the third quarter.

Anderson hit a jumper to open the fourth and to cut the lead to 35-29, but Moreton, who had a game high 18 points, stole the momentum right back for her team by knocking down a trey with 6:40 to go and the Lady Cyclones would never get closer than nine the rest of the way as the Lady Rebels went on to claim the win.